Ziegler probe now extends into video voyeurism
Affidavit: Woman accusing GOP chair of sexual assault didn’t consent to be filmed
Detectives investigating rape allegations against Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler are also examining whether he broke the state’s video voyeurism law, according to a new search warrant affidavit.
A judge last month issued a search warrant for Ziegler’s Instagram account after finding probable cause that he violated the voyeurism law, a felony offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
Ziegler, 40, faces removal as chairman of the GOP next week in Tallahassee. He has not been charged criminally, and he has denied wrongdoing through his attorney.
Ziegler’s accuser told police she did not consent to being filmed during an Oct. 2 sexual encounter at the center of the investigation, according to the affidavit first obtained by the Florida Trident.
In a Nov. 2 interview with Sarasota police, Ziegler showed investigators a two-and-a-half minute video of the sexual encounter and said it was consensual, the affidavit states. The woman sent an Instagram message set to vanishing mode to Ziegler asking if he showed the video to his wife, Ziegler’s attorney told police.
But the woman told investigators she did not know about the video, police said in the affidavit.
“The victim did not give Ziegler consent to take this video of them having sex,” the affidavit states. “Neither … Ziegler’s wife or the victim knew anything about this video that had been taken of the sexual encounter on 10/02/23, and neither had seen the video of this encounter.”
A Sarasota detective wrote she believes “evidence of the crime will be found within the Instagram account belonging to Christian Ziegler,” according to the affidavit.
The accuser had a three-way sexual
encounter with Ziegler and his wife, Sarasota County School Board member Bridget Ziegler, about a year ago, police wrote in a previous search warrant affidavit. Another three-way encounter was planned for Oct. 2, but the woman canceled when Ziegler’s wife couldn’t make it, according to court documents.
State law defines video voyeurism as using a recording or imaging device “for his or her own amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal, gratification, or profit, or for the purpose of
degrading or abusing another person … to secretly view, broadcast, or record a person, without that person’s knowledge and consent, who is dressing, undressing, or privately exposing the body, at a place and time when that person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
Ziegler has maintained he is innocent and has fought to keep his job as the head of Florida’s Republican Party.
“We are confident that once the
police investigation is concluded … no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated,” his attorney said in a statement.
Last month, the Florida GOP suspended Ziegler, censured him and reduced his $120,000 annual salary to $1.
Party leaders will meet on Monday, Jan. 8, in Tallahassee to consider removing him from his post.
Ziegler’s wife, Bridget, has faced calls to resign from the Sarasota County School Board. She declined to step down.
A co-founder of the conservative education group Moms for Liberty, Ziegler also is a member of Gov. Ron DeSantis’DisneyWorldoversightboard.